What a wonderful five years it has been indeed. We've all met at least one person we have the joy of chatting with, and many more have met those that are friends year round. There have been many highlights of these first five years of Gaia Spirit Week, affectionately known as GSW, such as cow raids, suxy GSW oriented words, screenies, threads and guilds and after parties. But most of all, a wonderful appreciation for those who keep this site a user friendly place for us all to continue to mingle upon has sprouted and grown plentifully annually, and this is what we have come together to appreciate most. But, where would we be if not for our founders, our two leading event planners and organizers who put hours and days and weeks of preparation into bringing this community together in a user-run event that we take for granted every year? Life gets busy for all of us, but still, time was found to prepare another year, an amazing fifth year of GSW, and we would like to thank Varlot and Shieran not only for creating such an outstanding event such as GSW, but for continuing to bring us together each year to further appreciate our site moderators and giving us cause to celebrate in the friendships that we have created. So please, take a moment, and give them the thanks that they truly are well deserving of!

Holy eff, it's been five years and Gaia Spirit Week is still going strong. We all have to thank you, Varlot and Shieran, for starting it. Granted, I know someone else did a Spirit Week before y'all 'took over', but it's you two that keep coming back and setting it up. For that, we all thank you.

Hard to believe that after the Spotlight five years ago, I wandered into the the first Gaia Spirit Week thread the two of you ran. Started with just bumping, then when the bumping became too much for the thread to handle, I started answering questions. From just that, you asked me to join in and help mod Spirit Week. I can't tell you how happy I am that I was pretty much in the right place at the right time.

The memories the last five years Gaia Spirit Week has left me have been fabulous ones. I cannot thank you two enough for letting me into the group to help with festivities. It's one of the things I look forward to, year after year, here on Gaia. Granted, it has been a bit stressful, but nothing in life is easy and the results of Spirit Week are always worth it all. GSW is the time when I forgo my usual sleep schedule and try to get as many hours in, helping out and aiding in the mod duties that I am able to do. Sure, I may have some dark circles under my eyes and look a little worse for wear offline (To which people wonder what it is I'm doing online to make me look so haggard), but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

The screenies that we all look back on, the little stories we share and randomly bring up as years go on, the friends we gain and the memories we make...I don't think there is a person out there in the GSW community that doesn't appreciate whole-heartedly what you two started.

Again, and it cannot be said enough, THANK YOU.

With much love,
Ingou

♥

P.S. - This was all lil4fingers' doing, and he welcomed the rest of us to join in. <3

Thank you so much for bringing together such a wide variety of people and giving us a common banner to fly. Spirit Week is honestly one of the only things I stay around on Gaia for, and the friendships are the other part, many of which have originated from Spirit Week. I'm glad that I've been a participant all five years, and I look forward to doing our best to continue this event annually as long as we can.
While it may seem like I have so few words to say, the meaning behind the words speak volumes.
Thank you. <3

Back in '09, I remember being bored during the summer, and checking this event out since it was spotlit. My first year, I was barely active, the thread moved mega fast, so I just dressed up and occasionally joined/posted. It wasn't until Twin Day that I saw what GSW was all about, joining up with a massive group and doing pirate raids around towns. Because of this I ended up being more active on Gaia and on GSW each year, making friends and having fun. I'm proud to be a part of the mod team this year, but without you guys none of us would've even come together!

Here I was, a bored Gaian browsing the forums back in 2008, when I clicked an announcement.
Gaia Spirit Week. What a cool idea! Although I had been on Gaia for three years at that time,
I had never participated in a user-run event before, so GSW was a novel idea. It was large,
terrifyingly so, and I was mute in chats without anybody noticing. Despite all of this, I still had
a lot of fun, and always reserved the energy (because boy does it take a lot) to return every year.
I am honoured to have become a part of the team, but it is all really thanks to you, Varlot and
Shieran, for bringing us all together.

Thank you so much for starting Gaia Spirit Week! I have met so many people through it and had so much fun that I never would have had otherwise. It even continues year round through the After Party, where the friendships made during the week are cemented all year round! You two are both so amazing for bringing so many Gaians together for every crazy shenanigan we've had together! I hope you know how much you are loved heart

Dear Shieran & Varlot:
What can I say? I used to be just a weird little Gaian, wandering aimlessly in Towns and Rally. I made very few friends, cause I just didn't talk to people. Mainly, I just stayed quietly in Jigsaw. And then I found GSW. Or, more accurately, GSW found me. I don't remember exactly how it happened. But it was the best thing that has ever been on Gaia. Instead of just randomly throwing together avatars, you gave me themes to work for. I wanted to look awesome. I usually didn't, but ya know, I tried. You gave me puzzles to try and find the answers for. A little brain straining 3nodding Now, even when I'm off Gaia for a while, I keep up with GSW: raising funds for the next year, dropping by the After Party thread, and finding out the dates for the next one.

The themes & puzzles & contests were great. But the best part was the community feel GSW had. Even though there were so many people, everybody cared. Sure, we all wanted our class to win and everyone else to lose. But at the end of the week, we all had so many more friends who actually wanted to hear from us. And GSWers would donate gold to broke Gaians (like myself) without even batting an eyelash. That's because of you two. You brought together a vast group of crazy different people, gave them common goals, gave them bonding time, and gave them examples of real spirit. Which isn't saying "my class is better than yours." It's being unified, even while competing.

My best memories of this site come from GSW. Midnight screenies, spelling the days away, Starmony & Ron Bruise raids, and crashing Gaia. None of those would have happened without your two brilliant minds coming together. And I'm so amazed constantly by the work that has been put into it for the past five years. Much love from this Gaian who was made more at home by this place emotion_bigheart

❝I only wish that I had joined in the Gaia Spirit Week festivities a little earlier than I had. Being a member since 2005 means I've participated in a ton of events, but I didn't know about GSW until the last two days of the 2010 event. A friend of mine was dressed for Pokemon Day and I just KNEW I had to get in on it. The next year, 2011, I participated on every single day and I realized I had been missing out on the past years. To be named one of the ultimate winners for that GSW was just the icing on the cake... I even cried a little bit because I was so happy. I had made so many wonderful friends during that one, short week, and it felt like I was graduating from high school all over again.

Luckily, the people I became friends with during that year became even better friends throughout the year and it was exciting to be able to be a part of yet another GSW this year, with my old friends and some new.

Who knew that some of my absolute BEST friends on Gaia would be the people I met during this event?

Varlot and Shieran, if it weren't for this event, I probably wouldn't be on Gaia anymore. There were many times in the past year when I thought "I think it's time I move on from this site." but I never did. I look forward to GSW because it's one of the most exciting things I know I'll do on Gaia all year. This event has done more for me than I could ever imagine and I hope that we continue to have GSWs for years and years to come.

THANK YOU for creating this wonderful event to bring so many of us Gaians closer together.emotion_bigheart❞

Thank you for creating " Gaia Spirit Week " each year
and creating a place for all of us to join together
and make friendship with many gaia members.
Many friendships have been made due to this thread
and if it was never made most of us would of never meet
and so I am glad you's have created it.
If it wasn't for you both holding this event
I would of never created the GSW after party thread
in which those who participated in the GSW
will have a place to go to keep in contact with
the friends that they made during the event.
I hope that in the future years to come
this tradition will continue. o3ob

What's to love about gaian Spirit Week?emotion_yattaThe themes, the people, the screenshots, the chaos, the fun, the random married AFK's, the Jar Full of Painkiller moments, the random hugging, letter making, colors at the end of the week, rainbowsrainbowsrainbows!!!
Gaia was fun. And then it wasn't. Not anymore, but GSW kept me here through those rough patches. The Community event was something I looked forward to and the only thing I regret is missing some of the days of the first GSW. The LOL moments that have kept me up til late at night were worth the trouble of staying for such a great batch of gaians.emotion_bigheart

Thank you for this event. It's done wonderful things for this community!

I remember logging into Gaia back in '09 and seeing a user run event called Gaia Spirit Week being spotlighted. I figured it couldn't hurt to see what it was about. I did and I have been in love ever since. Varlot and Shieran I just want to really thank you for giving us gaians that seem to stick out from the rest a place where we can meet up, show our randomness and celebrate our differences. I've met some really great people during GSW over the years andI still am in contact with some. Even though I just realized this is the first year I was really able to participate everyday and more than any other year, I still look forward to this event every year. Hopefully if the world doens't end, next year will be even bigger and better. Thanks again guys for providing somewhere I fit in.
Love you Varlot and Shieran!≎≎≎≎♛≎≎≎≎

....oh gosh, where do i even start? xD
back in 2O1O, i seriously had no idea what i was getting into. i'd heard rumors of "spirit week" and i was like 'what? a
spirit week on gaia? nuh uhhhhh'. but i kept seeing news about it, so i decided to check it out.
BEST DECISION EVER. granted, i didn't know anybody, but hey, one of the benefits of GSW is making new friends.
so 2O1O passed, and i absolutely loved it. 2O11 was even better, and 2O12... WOW. totally the best year yet, for sure.
i've gotten to know SO many wonderful people (too many to count!) because of this event, and look forward to meeting
many more. i've had tons of fun during screenies, and the periods afterwards where we just act like derps and
pull allnighters because we love talking to each other.
overall, i've gathered an infinite amount of memories from Spirit Week, not only because of all the participants,
but because of you two. i feel like without the two of you (and the other mods of course!), none of this ever would
have happened, (and i probably would've quit Gaia haha)
so yeah. thank you guys so much. you're amazing. <3

You guys make what's turned out to be my favorite event on Gaia possible. I've participated in all but the first, and it's really great to see it's stuck around for five whole years. Seeing the old faces and new ones every time it rolls around is great, and the strange, strange new catchphrases are.. very suxy. All in all, it's nice to feel a part of something and have an excuse to be silly (I'm so totally shy! D: ), and you guys are to thank for that.